La cabane de Jas Lacroix

Fauna

Flora

Pastoralism

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An easy, cool walk to the Jas-Lacroix pastoral hut, along the Selle stream.

"In the spring, before the flocks arrive in the valley, it is not rare to see a chamois in front of the hut in the early hours. They come to lick the stones on which the shepherd has put salt for the sheep during the summer."

Blandine Delanette, Warden for the Vallouise area.

Description

Take the footpath to left at the end of the carpark.

At the first crossing, take the footpath on the left (GR54) towards "Col de l'Aup Martin" cross the bridge over the Onde stream. Follow the cairns in the riverbed of the Onde to join the footpath that follows the Selle stream. This will take you to the pastoral hut next to a shelter for walkers of the GR54 trail (Tour of l'Oisans and Les Ecrins).
The return trip will be by the same path. It is also possible to continue towards l’Aup Martin pass, which is the highest point of the GR54 trail at 2761 m in altitude.

Departure : Entre les Aygues, Vallouise
Towns crossed : Vallouise-Pelvoux

Altimetric profile

Recommandations

The road leading to the car park is closed in winter and opens earlier or later in in the spring depending on avalanche activity. Please do not disturb the work of the shepherd and respect her privacy at the pastoral hut.

Is in the midst of the park

The national park is an unrestricted natural area but subjected to regulations which must be known by all visitors.

Herd protection dogs

In mountain pastures, protection dogs are there to protect the herds from predators (wolves, etc.).

When I hike I adapt my behavior by going around the herd and pausing for the dog to identify me.

Find out more about the actions to adopt with the article "Protection dogs: a context and actions to adopt".
Tell us about your meeting by answering this survey.

Information desks

Vallouise Park house

, 05290 Vallouise

http://www.ecrins-parcnational.fr/vallouise@ecrins-parcnational.fr 04 92 23 58 08

Information, documentation, models, exhibitions, screenings, product sales and works of the Park. Guided tours for school, reservation required. The new Park House opened in Vallouise since June 1, and offers visitors an interactive permanent exhibition inviting to explore the area and its heritage. A temporary exhibition space will allow a renewed offer. Finally, the device is completed by an audiovisual room to organize screenings and conferences Free admission. All animations of the Park are free unless otherwise stated.

Find out more

Transport

Shuttle service from Vallouise to Entre les Aygues: Reservation necessary 36 hours in advance (04 92 50 25 05)

Access and parking

In Vallouise, take the small road to the right of the church towards Puy Aillaud. When you reach Villard de Vallouise, carry straight on, on the road that goes through the hamlet and continues into the Onde valley.

Parking :

Entre les Aygues car park at the end of the Onde valley.

Sensitive areas

Along your trek, you will go through sensitive areas related to the presence of a specific species or environment. In these areas, an appropriate behaviour allows to contribute to their preservation. For detailed information, specific forms are accessible for each area.

Golden eagle

Impacted practices:: Aerial, , Vertical

Sensitivity periods:: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAug

Contact:: Parc National des Écrins
Julien Charron
julien.charron@ecrins-parcnational.fr

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12 points of interest

Flora
Silver birch
On the edge of the Onde, once you have crossed the footbridge, the stone footpath weaves its way between the birch trees. This tree is easy to recognize amongst all the others due to it thin white bark. Due to the tar that it contains, birch bark stays intact even after the wood has rotted inside. It was used as parchment and as tannin in boreal regions. In this area, the birch's young twigs were mostly used to make brooms.
Fauna
Southerly burnet
These small moths that come out during the day, are part of thirty species of burnet in France. Their long wings are black or sometimes bluish and have red spots. Such bright colours are a warning of toxicity to their predators. Burnets are capable of extracting chemical components similar to cyanide from plants. They then secrete this poison through their mouth and joints when faced with danger
Flora
Chamois ragwort
In June it impossible not to see these large yellow sun-like flowers on the edge of the path. Their greyish, fleshy leaves look like they have grown through a spider's web. At the end of July they are unrecognisable: the leaves turn green and no longer have the grey fluff. Once the flowers have wilted, they give way to a fluffy white seed head that is easily scattered by the wind. Our elders used to compare them to an old man's hair (senex in Latin) which lead to the French name "séneçon".
Flora
Cypress spurge
This is also referred to as "milk herb" in relation to the sticky white liquid that flows when it is cut. This is a toxic, irritating latex. It is identifiable due to its thin soft leaves and its original flowers that change colour and group together in inflorescence. By looking closer, in the middle of a 'cup' made from two bracts, it is possible to distinguish a female flower which is reduced to a ball (ovary) on a long stem, and males flowers with a sole stamen and four crescent-shaped nectar glands.
Fauna
"Popeye" grasshopper
In the pastures, in August, tens of grasshoppers jump and then disappear into the grass with each of our footsteps. Amongst them, the most original is perhaps the gomphocerus sibiricus nicknamed Siberian grasshopper, due to its resistance to the cold. The male is also known as the "Popeye grasshopper" because of its 'muscled' front legs. Its green-brown colour might mean it would go unnoticed were it not for this anatomical detail and it long, consistent "cre-cre-cre-cre" ending with a couple of separate "cre" that it repeats in order to attract a female.
Flora
Green alder
This bushy shrub grows in entangled thickets, which are a refuge to birds and chamois that are in search of coolness and quiet. It is a pioneer and not afraid of settling in poor, steep terrains. Its strong roots mean it can latch on where everything else slides. Its flexibility means avalanches slide over it as it bends under the weight of the snow. The male catkins dangle when they are mature showing the pale yellow of their flowers. The female flowers will bear characteristic fruit like small pinecones that are first green, and then brown that persist all year round.
Fauna
Black redstart
The black redstart has a grey crown, a white patch on its wings and a tan tail and rump. A lively and active common bird, it likes the rocky environments and constantly hunts insects in flight or on the ground. Perched on a rock or a stone wall, it gives out brief cries of warning whilst folding it feet. Its chatty song interrupted by "paper rustling" is characteristic. This partly migratory bird can be seen at high altitude during the summer but heads to the lower valleys for the winter.
Fauna
Chamois
In the summer, it is at the coolest times of the day that you are likely to see a chamois busy grazing. When the sun heats the valley, they prefer to lie in the shade of the green alders, or otherwise stay on the névés. Their hearing and their sense of smell are highly developped and makes it difficult to approach them. You will need binoculars to see them. If the end of their horns are curved, it's a male, a buck. Open horns, it's a female, a doe. If the horns are shorter than the ears, it's an 'éterlou', a young male chamois in its second year. Barely visible horns, it's a kid.
Pastoralism
Pastoral activity in the Selle valley, dale
Between l’Aup Martin pass and Entre les Aygues, the Selle valley is the communal pasture for Vallouise. During the summer, the pasture is grazed by a flock of sheep, a herd of cows, a few horses and the donkeys that accompany the shepherds. The shepherd's role is to not only keep and guide the sheep on the pasture with the help of dogs. She also nurses them, in particular to avoid foot-rot, a bacterial infection of the hooves that could spread to wild animals.
Flora
Monk's Rhubarb
Around the pastoral hut, monk's rhubarb forms an ocean of bright green. This species along with Good King Henry and stinging nettles have a love for ample manure. They therefore create vast fluffy carpets on the animals' resting places and around the pastoral huts where they stifle out most of the other vegetation due to its vigorous germination and the damp shade of its large leaves. On its stem, the flower heads that look like candles are made up of uncountable greenish flowers that, when mature, will become winged, three-sided brown fruit. The leaf petioles of this wild rhubarb, which are fleshy, juicy and tangy, can be used in cooking.
Fauna
The ibex, a survivor
In the face of danger, the ibex does not run away but takes refuge on a rock face where it thinks it will be safe. This strategy has enabled it to escape from land predators for thousands of years. However, it has proved to be inefficient against man since the invention of the crossbow or the rifle. As a result, the ibex was almost wiped out in the 19th century. The species owes it survival to Italy's protection in the creation of a royal reserve, that later became the Gran Paradiso National Park.
Fauna
The alpine ibex
In 1995 several ibex were introduced into the Champsaur. Since then, their population has steadily progressed to the valleys of the massif. A small group of ibex spend the summer season on the cliffs of the Chanteloube valley that overlooks the Jas Lacroix hut, on the left bank. They are more often than not perched on the rock faces and are difficult to see but from the hilltop above the hut, you might be lucky enough to see one on the rocks with the help of a telescope.